Bonnet c. 1939

Ruth Bialostosky made this drawing of a Bonnet, but we don't know when, or with what. It's the kind of image that sits with you, isn't it? There's something really beautiful in the way the artist coaxes volume out of such simple means, it's all line, but it feels so soft. Look at how the drawing has a very limited color palette, mostly greys and a touch of pale yellow. The green patch at the back seems really odd, and yet it's essential, like a strange key change in a piece of music. The way that bow hangs down is really odd. It feels both solid and flat, as if the different planes were determined by the force of gravity. Do you think that Bialostosky ever saw a Morandi? It reminds me of his muted still-life paintings, the way he could turn a bottle into a monument. Like Morandi, Bialostosky reminds us to look really hard at the most simple things.